Gitem Baits Rigging
Review by Captain Tim Fey

The Rigging of your baits can, and will make the difference on whether you not only get hookups, but also if you land your fish. All too often a new bait comes out and there will always be people left scratching their heads saying "now how the heck do I rig this thing up?" Lets take the "toad" type baits first. Everybody has come out with some version of a toad in one form or another. The one toad that we have found that stands out and separates itself from all the others has been the Gitem Toad. The underneath side of the toad has a slot for the hook shank to ride in, helping it stay weedless, and the top portion has its very own distinctive "V" groove in it so when you rig this toad, you can actually bring the hook between the legs and let it rest in the "V" without having to penetrate the material, which on a hookset will reduce tearing of the baits, making them last much longer and you will be able to catch more with just one fish with each bait. Now the hooks of choice for this type of rigging for us has been 1) Daiichi Copper Head in a 5/0 which can be used with, or without the bait keeper, and 2) Mustad Ultra Point Extra Wide Gap 5/0

Next up are our two other favorite Gitem Baits, which have caught a ton of bass for us. Those are the Gitem AKA and the Gitem KO.

The Gitem AKA has a great ribbed body to it which allows it to create a great disturbance in the water along with a curl tail, this is a great bait to work weightless or flipped into heavy matting. The rigging for this bait is very simple, rig it like you would a standard worm, Texas rigged, we like to use a 4/0 or 5/0 VMC and when flipping we might step up to a 5/0 Mustad Ultra Point EWG and generally a screw in type weight as pictured here.

Sitting next to the AKA you will see the Gitem KO, which we will also rig with the same 4/0 or 5/0 VMC hooks, red hooks or black hooks work good, we honestly have not notice much of a difference as far as hook color goes as to catching bass. One thing you can do, after you catch a few on the Gitem KO and you find where the hook comes thru the body after a few bass they will tear, simple solution to the matter is to take it off the hook, trim maybe 1/4 inch (at the most) off the end, and rig the same bait up again. Performing this minor surgery has allow us to catch as many as 12 bass on one Gitem KO.

One of the other most lethal ways of a rigging a Gitem KO is "whacky" style. We find that many people just run the hook thru the middle and fish it. This way of rigging is very effective, but if you buy very small rubber bands, such as the ones they use at a Dentist office on Braces, you can slide that right over the body, and slip the hook thru without ruining the bait and you will find the baits will last you a lot longer. This of course will work with Bass Pro type "sticko" baits, but these baits here are made of a much better material and will hold up much better.

We hope the information along with the pictures provided have helped you out. As always, you are always more than welcome to e-mail me for more info if needed.

Captain Tim Fey
BassfishingFL.com
321-303-9207